May WASDE reports bearish but inconclusive

The Agriculture Department’s May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates were bearish but inconclusive, analysts said.

“This May, WASDE is very different from any previous reports as COVID-19 continues to force surprise revisions to the old crop estimates and the exchange of commodities is in flux,” Shelby Myers, economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Market Intel service, wrote. “Farmer planting decisions will not be updated until the June 30 acreage report. With the estimated large production of corn and cotton and the potential to change planting intentions, there could be possible supply revisions for the 2020/2021 marketing year early on.”

According to DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman, “Tuesday’s new U.S. ending stocks estimates were bearish for corn and wheat, bullish for soybeans. Meanwhile, the world ending stocks estimates were bearish for corn and wheat, neutral for soybeans.”

Chuck Abbott of the Food and Environment Reporting Network wrote in Successful Farming, “The coronavirus, which has shut down meat plants and put millions of people out of work, will reduce American meat consumption by 4%, or 10 pounds per person, this year, said the government on Tuesday in a new assessment of the impact of the pandemic on food and agriculture. Beef, pork, and poultry production is falling ‘as the sector adjusts to COVID-19 and economic uncertainty,’ said the USDA.

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“The USDA also said soybean exports and corn-for-ethanol use this year would be the smallest since 2012/2013, also due to the pandemic.”

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